"I have been to Mergellina, Signorina."
"Mergellina! Did you see Ruffo?"
There was something very odd about Gaspare to-day, Vere thought. Or was she still not thoroughly awake? His eyes looked excited, surely, as if something unusual had been happening. And they were fixed upon her face with a scrutiny that was strange, almost as if he saw her now for the first time.
"What is it, Gaspare? Why do you look at me like that?"
"Like what, Signorina? Why should I not look at you?"
"What have you been doing at Mergellina?"
"Nothing particular, Signorina."
She paused, but he did not speak.
